Oxygen absorbing cap

ABSTRACT

An oxygen absorbing cap includes a hollow chamber, a removable top that is adapted to screw into or snap into the cap so as to close the hollow chamber and, when removed, to provide access to the hollow chamber, an oxygen absorber adapted to fit into the hollow chamber, and a waterproof breathable film (e.g., e-PTFE microporous film) located in the hollow chamber between the oxygen absorber and any liquid in the bottle and adapted to prevent the liquid in the bottle from contacting the oxygen absorber but allowing gases in the bottle to contact the oxygen absorber. The cap may also be used with a valve that limits the amount of air that contacts the liquid to the air that replaces the poured liquid or used with a pump that replaces the poured liquid with oxygen-free air so that air never contacts liquid in the bottle.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of priority under 35 USC §119 toChinese Patent Application No. 2013202068156, filed Apr. 23, 2013, nowissued as Chinese Patent CN 203173078 U 29-36. The contents of thatapplication are hereby incorporated by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention is directed to an oxygen absorbing cap such as a cap forprotecting wine by removing oxygen from an opened bottle of wine.

BACKGROUND

Oxygen is the enemy of wine. Once a wine bottle is opened, the winestarts to degrade due to the chemical reaction between the delicate winearomatic compounds and oxygen. Deterioration by oxygen in the winebottle is a well-known problem for storing left-over wine and results inan expensive waste of unconsumed wine. Usually vacuuming and inert gaspumping devices are used to help slow down the deterioration process. Avacuuming device sucks out about 70% of the oxygen in the wine bottle.Inert gas pumping devices fill the wine bottle with inert gas, such asargon or nitrogen while flushing out the oxygen in the wine bottle.However, the vacuuming method is not able to completely remove oxygenwhich limits its long term use. An inert gas pumping device is notconvenient for family use and may not be economical. Moreover, neithermethod continuously removes oxygen between wine pourings. Additionally,the vacuuming method can disrupt wine chemistry which can destroy thewine taste.

Other devices used in the art for removing oxygen from containersinclude a sealing cap with an oxygen absorber as described in U.S. Pat.No. 4,840,280. The sealing cap described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,280 hasa significant limitation in that the oxygen absorber cannot be replacedonce it has been depleted and there is no visual gauge to determinewhether the absorber is depleted. Also, the sealing cap described inU.S. Pat. No. 4,840,280 is designed for a particular bottle and is notadapted to be used in different bottles. In addition, the sealing cap inU.S. Pat. No. 4,840,280 has a very small confined space for holding theoxygen absorber, limiting its use for large volume or multiple uses.

Another similar device used in the art for removing oxygen fromcontainers is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,804,236. That patentdescribes infusing an entire container with an oxygen scavenger thatwill absorb oxygen in the head space of the container. However, such anapproach has a major drawback in that the contents of a wine bottle mustbe transferred into the container bottle instead of simply inserting acap to absorb the oxygen. In addition, most wine enthusiasts abhorplacing a delicate wine into any plastic bottle, let alone a plasticbottle infused with an oxygen scavenger chemical. Plus, the design hasthe same drawbacks as the devices mentioned above in that no visualgauge is provided to determine whether the oxygen scavenger remainseffective and there is no convenient way to replace the depleted orpartially depleted oxygen absorber with a fresh oxygen absorber. Inaddition, this design does not continually prevent oxygen from touchingthe wine as it is being poured from the bottle.

There are also a number of wine preservation and wine dispensing designsknown in the art. These designs generally include an expanding barrier(such as a balloon-like device) and/or a pressurized gas source (such asnitrogen or argon) to flush out the oxygen in a bottle (e.g., see U.S.Pat. Nos. 8,453,888, 8,371,478, and 7,051,901). However, these designshave shortcomings such as no visual gauge to determine the amount ofoxygen remaining in the bottle and the inability to automatically removeoxygen. They also are incapable of continually preventing oxygen fromtouching the wine as it is being poured from the bottle.

An alternative technique for removing oxygen from a wine bottle or othertype of bottle is desired that overcomes the deficiencies of the priorart designs and is simple and cost-effective enough for home use. Theinvention addresses these needs in the art.

SUMMARY

The invention addresses the above needs in the art by providing a capthat can continuously absorb oxygen and maintain oxygen levels of lessthan 0.01% in a bottle such as a wine bottle to prevent wine or otherliquid in the bottle from being attacked by oxygen. In exemplaryembodiments, the cap is a simple extrusion molded plastic device thathouses an oxygen scavenger and is designed to allow a user to replace oradd more oxygen absorber packets of different sizes for prolonged winepouring or storing and faster oxygen removal. The cap is designed forinsertion into all typical wine bottles and allows the user to recap thebottle multiple times or to use it with multiple bottles as desiredwhile still providing an oxygen-free headspace and an air-tight seal.

In an exemplary embodiment, the oxygen absorbing cap of the invention isadapted for insertion into an open end of a bottle, such as a winebottle, so as to form an air-tight seal between the cap and the bottle.The cap includes a hollow chamber, a removable top that is adapted toscrew into or snap into the cap so as to close the hollow chamber and,when removed, to provide access to the hollow chamber, an oxygenabsorber adapted to fit into the hollow chamber, and a waterproofbreathable film (e.g., an e-PTFE microporous film) located at a bottomof the hollow chamber between the oxygen absorber and any liquid in thebottle and adapted to prevent the liquid in the bottle from contactingthe oxygen absorber but allowing gases in the bottle to contact theoxygen absorber. An O-ring may be installed in the removable top andadapted to provide an air-tight seal between the removable top and thehollow chamber. Also, the hollow chamber and the tapered portion may bemolded into a one piece integral unit.

The air-tight seal between the cap and the bottle is formed by a taperedportion of the cap that is adapted for insertion in the open end of thebottle to form the air-tight seal between an outside wall of the taperedportion and the open end of the bottle. To facilitate sealing, thetapered portion includes at least one sealing groove around the outsidewall of the tapered portion that accepts an O-ring that, in turn, formsan air-tight seal with the open end of the bottle when the cap is pushedinto the open end of the bottle. In exemplary embodiments, a surface ofthe sealing groove has a conical shape or a stair-case shape.

In another exemplary embodiment, the cap is adapted to be inserted intothe bottle once as it does not need to be removed for pouring. This hasthe advantage that it allows less oxygen from entering the bottle asoccurs when the cap is completely removed because the volume of the airintroduced into the bottle when pouring is equal to that of the liquidpoured out. This means that only a smaller amount of oxygen needs to beremoved by the oxygen absorber, resulting in faster oxygen removal andsavings in use of the oxygen absorber. In another exemplary embodiment,the cap is adapted to allow pouring of the liquid without any oxygencoming into contact with the liquid at any time. In this embodiment, thecap includes a valve that, when opened, permits liquid to be poured fromthe bottle and replaced by air that contacts the oxygen absorber forremoval of oxygen. An air passage directs air entering the valve to theoxygen absorber for removal.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, an oxygen absorbing cap is providedthat it adapted to allow pouring of a liquid from a bottle withoutoxygen from the air coming into contact with the liquid in the bottleSuch an embodiment includes a threaded hollow tube adapted to be screwedin and through a cork to access the liquid in the bottle, abattery-driven pump connected to the threaded hollow tube to pump liquidfrom the bottle, a manual valve that turns on the pump when opened andprovides an exit for the liquid pumped from the bottle, and anoxygen-free air supply module including a tube by which gas exits andenters the bottle and at least one oxygen-free gas chamber that providesoxygen-free air to the bottle via the tube as liquid is pumped from thebottle.

In the latter embodiment, the oxygen-free air supply module may furtherinclude two oxygen-free gas chambers, a manual switch for switching gasbetween the chambers, two check valves, and a thin isolation membranebetween the gas chambers. In operation, the battery-driven pump pumpsoxygen-free gas from at least one of the oxygen-free gas chambers intothe bottle via the tube to exert pressure to move the liquid through thethreaded hollow tube to the manual valve for pouring. Also, pressing themanual switch seals a check valve to a first oxygen-free gas chamberwhen the battery-driven pump pumps gas from the first oxygen-free gaschamber. When a pressure in the first oxygen-free gas chamber becomesless than a pressure in a second oxygen-free gas chamber, the isolationmembrane is pushed towards the first oxygen-free gas chamber untilpressure equilibrium is reached. Then, once a pressure in the secondoxygen-free gas chamber is less than that of outside air, a second checkvalve is opened to allow air into the second oxygen-free gas chamber.

In any of the exemplary embodiments, the oxygen absorbing cap mayfurther include an oxygen indicator that shows, when the cap is insertedinto the open end of the bottle, an indication of an oxygen level in thebottle. For example, the indication of oxygen level may be differentcolors for different amounts of oxygen present in the bottle.

These and other features and advantages will be apparent from thefollowing detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other advantages of the oxygen absorbing cap of the inventionwill be apparent from the following detailed description in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a cut-away side view of an oxygen absorbing cap in accordancewith a first embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2( a) illustrates the cap of FIG. 1 inserted into a wine bottle.

FIG. 2( b) illustrates the cap of FIG. 1 dismantled into its componentparts.

FIG. 3 is a cut-away side view of an oxygen absorbing cap in accordancewith a second embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates the cap of FIG. 3 inserted into a wine bottle.

FIG. 5 illustrates an oxygen absorbing cap in accordance with a thirdembodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

The invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS.1-5. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the description givenherein with respect to those figures is for exemplary purposes only andis not intended in any way to limit the scope of the invention. Allquestions regarding the scope of the invention may be resolved byreferring to the appended claims.

FIG. 1 illustrates an oxygen absorbing cap in accordance with a firstembodiment of the invention. FIG. 2( a) illustrates the cap of FIG. 1inserted into a wine bottle, and FIG. 2( b) illustrates the cap of FIG.1 dismantled into its component parts.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the cap of the first embodiment of theinvention includes a removable top (1), a hollow chamber (4), and atapered portion (7) adapted for insertion into a bottle. The removabletop (1) and the hollow chamber (4) are connected by snapping-in orscrewing-in the removable top (1) into a top portion of the hollowchamber (4). An O-ring (3) provides an air-tight seal between theremovable top (1) and the hollow chamber (4). The hollow chamber (4) andthe tapered portion (7) can be extrusion molded into one integral piece.Also, as shown in FIG. 1, the outside wall of the tapered portion (7)has at least one sealing ring groove (5) where a sealing O-ring (3) madeof food-safe silicon rubber is installed to provide an air-tight sealbetween the tapered portion and the open end of the bottle when the capis pushed into the open end of the bottle. Plural sealing O-rings on thetapered portion (7) permit the cap to provide air-tight seals withbottles of different sizes.

In use, an oxygen absorber (2) is placed in the hollow chamber (4).Suitable oxygen absorbers (2) for such applications are well-known. Forexample, Yamada discloses in U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,763 an oxygen scavengersuitable for removing oxygen from a container.

The oxygen absorbing cap in the embodiment of FIG. 1 allows a consumerto use a commercially available oxygen absorber packet of various types,depending on needs. For example, a packet with a rating of 200 cc meansthat the packet will remove 200 milliliters (ml) oxygen and clears anempty space of about five times its rating (because air only contains20% oxygen), i.e. it will clear an empty bottle containing as much as 1liter of air. A typical unopened wine bottle contains 750 ml wine.

The hollow chamber (4) is preferably sized to allow placing multipleoxygen absorber packets for multiple uses and/or faster oxygen removal.For example, instead of using one packet of 200 cc oxygen absorber, onecan use two packets of 200 cc for two wine bottles. One skilled in theart will further appreciate that the oxygen absorber can also be acustomized product that is specially designed for use with bottles ofparticular sizes and adapted for customized use with the cap of theinvention.

A waterproof breathable film (6) is installed at a bottom portion of thehollow chamber (4) to seal the oxygen absorber (2) inside to prevent theliquid from contacting the oxygen absorber (2). However, the breathablefilm (6) permits air to pass through so that oxygen may be scavengedfrom the bottle by the oxygen absorber (2). The waterproof breathablefilm (6) can be an e-PTFE microporous film or other suitable waterproofbreathable film that allows oxygen but not water to pass through.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the cap of the firstembodiment of the invention is adapted to be directly inserted in a winebottle or other bottle in the same manner as a wine cork. After pouringout the wine or other liquid, the bottle is re-capped by inserting thecap of FIG. 1 into the open end of the bottle to form an air-tight sealwith the O-ring (3) round the outer periphery of the tapered portion(7). The oxygen absorber (2) inside the cap continuously removes theharmful oxygen that has entered the bottle when the wine or other liquidwas poured out and without touching the liquid inside. Other beneficialgases in wine such as (carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and various tracesulfur compounds) are not removed from the bottle.

The embodiment of the oxygen absorbing cap shown in FIGS. 1 and 2satisfies at least three main requirements: 1) it provides sufficientoxygen absorption in the hollow chamber (4) to meet the demands formultiple uses; 2) the waterproof breathable film prevents the liquidfrom contacting the oxygen absorber while allowing oxygen to passthrough to the oxygen absorber (2) from the air space in the bottle; and3) the multiple O-rings (3) on the outside wall of the tapered portion(7) can be moved up and down to provide a more secured air-tight fit fordifferently sized bottle openings. It will also be appreciated that anair-tight plug (not shown) may be provided at the bottom of the taperedportion (7) when not in use to prevent oxygen from getting to the oxygenabsorber (2) when the cap is not in a bottle.

FIG. 3 illustrates a second embodiment of the invention in which a valve(9) is added to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1. Valve (9) allows liquidto be poured without removing the cap from the bottle. When opening thevalve (9) and pouring the liquid, the volume of outside air that entersthe bottle is the same as that of the liquid poured out. This allowsless oxygen to enter the bottle versus completely removing the cap. Thismeans that only a smaller amount of oxygen needs to be removed by theoxygen absorber (2), resulting in faster oxygen removal and savings inthe use of the oxygen absorber (2).

In the embodiment of FIG. 3, the liquid is poured after passing throughtwo exits: the interior exit (10) and an exterior exit (8) that iscontrolled by the valve (9). At the side of the interior exit (10) thereis a narrow air entrance connected to a piece of small (e.g., 2 mm innerdiameter) tubing (11) with a short length of, for example, 3-5 mm. Thediameter of the interior exit (10) is significantly larger, e.g., atleast 9 mm, much greater than that of the narrow air entrance. As shownin FIG. 3, the hollow chamber (4) containing the oxygen absorber (2) ismoved to the side. Though not shown, the hollow chamber (4) preferablyincludes a removable cap to allow access to the oxygen absorber (2) forreplacement as in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2.

During operation of the cap of FIG. 3, to pour the liquid the valve (9)is opened and the bottle is tilted. The liquid from the bottle firstpasses through the interior exit (10) while at the same time outside airenters the bottle through the air entrance (11) to allow easy and quickpouring. The liquid does not block the narrow air entrance (11) becausethe air enters the narrow air entrance (11) at a point higher than theinterior exit (10) and is directed toward the breathable film (6) andoxygen absorber (2). When the valve (9) is closed, outside air cannotenter the bottle and thus no air enters the air entrance (11). Anyoxygen that has entered the bottle during the pouring will be absorbedby oxygen absorber (2), which in this embodiment is located to the sideof the cap as illustrated.

FIG. 4 illustrates the cap of FIG. 3 inserted into a wine bottle. Thevalve (9) is located at the top and the hollow chamber (4) is located tothe side as illustrated.

FIG. 5 illustrates an oxygen absorbing cap in accordance with a thirdembodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the cap is adapted toallow pouring of the liquid without any oxygen coming into contact withthe liquid at any time since the oxygen absorbing cap is designed to beused without removing the original wood cork from a wine bottle. Asillustrated in FIG. 5, this embodiment includes a pump system module andan oxygen-free air supply system module. The pump system module includesa battery-driven pump (15), a power switch (12), a battery (13), and amanual valve (14) connected to the battery-driven pump (15). The manualvalve (14) is linked to the power switch (12) such that depressing themanual valve (14) turns on the power switch (12). On the other hand, theoxygen-free air supply module includes an oxygen-free gas tube (16) bywhich gas exits and enters the bottle as liquid is pumped from thebottle, a manual switch (17) for switching gas between chamber (A) or(B), two check valves (18), an oxygen-free gas chamber (A) (19), anoxygen-free gas chamber (B) (20), a thin isolation membrane (21) betweengas chambers A and B, two oxygen indicators (22), two oxygen absorbers(23), and a threaded hollow tube (24) for liquid exit. The threadedhollow tube (24) has threads on it to allow it to be screwed in and gothrough the cork like a regular wine opener.

During operation of the cap of FIG. 5, the threaded hollow tube (24) isscrewed in and through the cork and threaded to the lower portion of thebottle. Power switch (12) is triggered on when the manual valve (14) ispressed to release the liquid. The liquid moves through the threadedhollow tube (24) to exit the bottle when the battery-driven pump (15) isswitched on and the liquid is pumped out.

The oxygen-free gas chambers (A) (19) and (B) (20) contain oxygen-freeair that is generated by the oxygen absorbers (23). The battery-drivenpump (15) pumps the oxygen-free gas from the oxygen-free gas chamber (A)(19) or oxygen-free gas chamber (B) (20) into the bottle to exertpressure to move the liquid through the threaded hollow tube (24). Themanual switch (17) is pressed in to seal the check valve (18) forchamber (A) when the battery-driven pump (15) pumps the gas from gaschamber A (19). The pressure in gas chamber A (19) becomes less thanthat in gas chamber B (20) and the thin isolation membrane (21) ispushed towards gas chamber A (19) until equilibrium is reached. Once thepressure in gas chamber B (20) is less than that of outside air, theother check valve (18) is opened to allow air in for oxygen removal byoxygen absorbers (23). It will be appreciated that this embodiment doesnot let air into the bottle to contact the liquid.

Oxygen indicators (22) provide an indication of an oxygen level in thebottle. For example, the oxygen level may be indicated by specificcolor, such as red/pink for no oxygen present and dark purple whenoxygen is present, with gradations in shading for concentrationstherebetween. Similar indicators may be provided in the otherembodiments as well.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that a cap configured asdescribed herein can remove almost all oxygen in a bottle and can beused for protecting wine and fruit-based juices, spirits, liquors orliquid chemical reagents from being oxidized by oxygen.

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the invention may beapplied to other applications and may be modified without departing fromthe scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention isnot intended to be limited to the exemplary embodiments described above,but only by the appended claims.

What is claimed:
 1. An oxygen absorbing cap adapted for insertion into an open end of a bottle so as to form an air-tight seal between the cap and the bottle, said cap comprising a hollow chamber, a removable top that provides access to said hollow chamber, an oxygen absorber adapted to fit into said hollow chamber, and a waterproof breathable film located at a position of said hollow chamber between the oxygen absorber and any liquid in the bottle and adapted to prevent the liquid in the bottle from contacting the oxygen absorber but allowing gases in the bottle to contact the oxygen absorber.
 2. The oxygen absorbing cap of claim 1, wherein the cap includes a tapered portion that is adapted for insertion in the open end of the bottle to form said air-tight seal between an outside wall of the tapered portion and the open end of the bottle, said tapered portion including at least one sealing groove around said outside wall of the tapered portion that accepts an O-ring that, in turn, forms an air-tight seal with said open end of said bottle when the cap is pushed into the open end of the bottle.
 3. The oxygen absorbing cap of claim 2 wherein a surface of the sealing groove has a conical shape or a stair-case shape.
 4. The oxygen absorbing cap of claim 1, wherein said waterproof breathable film is an e-PTFE microporous film.
 5. The oxygen absorbing cap of claim 1, wherein said removable top is adapted to screw into or snap into said cap so as to close said hollow chamber.
 6. The oxygen absorbing cap of claim 5, further comprising an O-ring installed in the removable top and adapted to provide an air-tight seal between the removable top and the hollow chamber.
 7. The oxygen absorbing cap of claim 2, wherein the hollow chamber and the tapered portion are molded into a one piece integral unit.
 8. The oxygen absorbing cap of claim 1, further comprising an oxygen indicator that shows, when said cap is inserted into the open end of said bottle, an indication of an oxygen level in said bottle.
 9. The oxygen absorbing cap of claim 8, wherein said indication of oxygen level comprises different colors for different amounts of oxygen present in the bottle.
 10. The oxygen absorbing cap of claim 1, further adapted to permit liquid to be poured from the bottle without removing the cap, said cap further including a valve that, when opened, permits liquid to be poured from the bottle and replaced by air that contacts said oxygen absorber for removal of oxygen.
 11. The oxygen absorbing cap of claim 10, further comprising an air passage that directs air entering the valve to said oxygen absorber.
 12. An oxygen absorbing cap adapted to allow pouring of a liquid from a bottle without oxygen from the air coming into contact with the liquid in the bottle, comprising: a threaded hollow tube adapted to be screwed in and through a cork to access the liquid in the bottle; a battery-driven pump connected to said threaded hollow tube to pump liquid from said bottle; a manual valve that turns on the pump when opened and provides an exit for the liquid pumped from the bottle; and an oxygen-free air supply module including a tube by which gas exits and enters the bottle and at least one oxygen-free gas chamber that provides oxygen-free air to said bottle via said tube as liquid is pumped from the bottle.
 13. The oxygen absorbing cap of claim 12, wherein said oxygen-free air supply module further includes two oxygen-free gas chambers, a manual switch for switching gas between the chambers, two check valves, and a thin isolation membrane between the gas chambers.
 14. The oxygen absorbing cap of claim 13, wherein the battery-driven pump pumps oxygen-free gas from at least one of the oxygen-free gas chambers into the bottle via said tube to exert pressure to move the liquid through the threaded hollow tube to said manual valve for pouring.
 15. The oxygen absorbing cap of claim 14, wherein pressing the manual switch seals a check valve to a first oxygen-free gas chamber when the battery-driven pump pumps gas from the first oxygen-free gas chamber, wherein when a pressure in the first oxygen-free gas chamber becomes less than a pressure in a second oxygen-free gas chamber the isolation membrane is pushed towards the first oxygen-free gas chamber until pressure equilibrium is reached, and wherein once a pressure in the second oxygen-free gas chamber is less than that of outside air, a second check valve is opened to allow air into the second oxygen-free gas chamber. 